1. Field
The present invention relates generally to electronic amplifiers.
2. Background
Amplifiers are commonly used in various electronic devices to provide signal amplification. Various types of amplifiers are available and include voltage amplifiers, current amplifiers, etc. A voltage amplifier receives and amplifies an input voltage signal and provides an output voltage signal. A current amplifier receives and amplifies an input current signal and provides an output current signal. Amplifiers typically have different designs and are used in different applications. For example, a wireless communication device such as a cellular phone may include a transmitter and a receiver for bi-directional communication. The transmitter may utilize a driver amplifier (DA) and a power amplifier (PA), the receiver may utilize a low noise amplifier (LNA), and the transmitter and receiver may utilize variable gain amplifiers (VGAs).
Folded cascode amplifiers, which may include simple architectures and high bandwidths, are a desirable choice for many applications. As will be appreciated by a person having ordinary skill in the art, increasing a DC gain of a folded cascode amplifier (e.g., via gain boosting, using longer channel length for devices, triple cascoding, etc.) may require a power and/or an area penalty.
A need exists for increasing a gain of an amplifier. More specifically, a need exists for devices and methods for increasing a gain of a folded cascode amplifier without increasing the power consumption and/or the size of the amplifier.